


A call in the Night

by HannaHazzard



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tony is a good dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 18:34:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1136035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannaHazzard/pseuds/HannaHazzard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve gets a call in the night from someone he didn't even know existed.</p>
<p>“And I will. I’m on my way. Where are you? What is your name?”<br/>“I’m Ethan.” The boy rattled off an address...<br/>“That’s the Stark Mansion,” Steve whispered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this story was born on an endless flights of eight hours each to and from vacation, and I’m proud to say it’s almost finished :D So I think it’s save to post it.
> 
> It’s not really Steve/Tony at the moment, more like pre-slash, but it’s very much focused on them, and someone else.

"Hello?“ Steve rubbed a hand over his eye’s to try and chase away the sleep. Squinting at the clock showed that it was in the middle of the night, so who ever was calling had better a good reason.

 

_“Help!”_

 

Immediately alert, the blond was out of his bed in a second. Harsh breathing could be heard at the other end and to Steve’s panic he hear an occasional sob. It was just a child. A very distressed child.

 

“Who is there? What it going on?”

 

Thankful that the future held cordless phones, he was already halfway in his pants, hopping awkwardly on one leg.

 

_“You have to help us! There are men in the house and my daddy is out there. You have to save us! Daddy said if I am in trouble I have to call Captain America, he will save me. You have to save us. My daddy is hurt.”_ The child spoke very fast and it sounded like he was crying, but Steve understood enough to get the gist.

 

“And I will. I’m on my way. Where are you? What is your name.” Finished dressing, he grabbed his jacket and the keys to his bike. He run to the door and stopped.

 

_“I’m Ethan_.” The boy rattled off an address and Steve nodded along, wracking his brain for the best route. Then he frowned; he knew that address. Knew it from _before_. Realisation hit him and his eyes widened.

 

“That’s the Stark Mansion.” He whispered, completely sure. He remembered how he had looked up the address when Howard had asked him to come for dinner once. He’d still been sick and scrawny then.

 

_“Yes, yes. Please. My daddy is Tony Stark, he can give you money if you want, but you have to help us.”_

 

He didn’t know what shocked him more, that he was being offered money for his help or that…Tony Stark’s _son_ was calling him. All together it felt kind of like someone poured a bucket of ice cold water over him.

 

Tony had never told him he had a child. Granted, they had kind of other problems, with an adopted haywire god that was threatening firs New York and then would have ‘asked’ for world domination. But he had also read Tony’s file, nothing ever indicated-

 

_“Please_.” The boy at the other end pleaded and Steve shook himself out of his thoughts. Ok not the time right now. Time for that kind of answers later.

 

“Of course, don’t worry I’ll help your daddy. First of, are you anywhere save? Good hidden? Or-“

 

_“I’m in the panic room, no one will come in here without the code_ ,” He sniffed, _“but daddy is still out there.”_

 

“Alright. Listen, it can’t take the phone with me so we will hang up now. You stay right where you are and try to stay calm. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

 

_“But-“_

 

“Your dad told you to trust me, buddy, and I’m asking you the same. Trust that I’ll help your dad, ok?”

 

Steve was tensed, his shield held in a tight grip and he was ready to bold any second.

 

_“Ok.”_ Came the timid answer, echoed by a wet sniff.

 

“I’ll see you in a moment.” He didn’t- couldn’t wait for another answer. They’d already wasted a lot of time and he knew Tony was very much capable of self defence, but Ethan said he was hurt and it would take him some time to get there.

 

Throwing the phone on the counter after hanging up, he was out the door and down the stairs in seconds.

 

Adrenaline fuelled his feet as he sprinted to his bike, starting it before he was even sitting. As fast as he dared he was off to the Stark Mansion.

 

 

_A/N I didn’t go with Peter, because, I don’t know, there are already so much with him as their kid. Guess I wanted someone else :D_

_Hope you enjoyed the start anyway :*_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad you liked it so far, thanks for the support

Tony was pulling an all-nighter again, working on the blue prints of his tower 2.0, and needed to refuel in the form of hot coffee, when he heard the glass of the window in the  foyer shatter.

 

He froze for about 0.4 seconds before he steeled himself for trouble and, inching along the wall as silently as he could –thankful that he hadn’t turned on the light- took a quick look to asses the intruder. Which appeared to be intruders,five. And heavily armed at that. Fuck.

 

Without second thought he pulled off his shoes and dashed up the stairs at the front of the mansion, hoping that he would be more quiet on socks.

 

The Mark VI was still under constructions from fighting Loki. He had been a bit busy lately, with helping building up the city, reassuring his son that he wasn’t disappearing again through another wormhole, which, thanks Pepper, Ethan didn’t have to see, and well, the rebuilding of the Tower. Not to mention Stark Industries, which still needs some attention even through he isn’t CEO anymore.

Tony still had his suitcase armour of course, but that was down in the make shift lab, and he had his priority upstairs. He couldn’t risk being to slow to get his armour and come up.

 

Bursting as fast and quiet as he could through the door of his old bedroom he went to the bed and shook the sleeping boy, nestled in the blankets.

 

“Ethan?” he whispered urgently. He wanted to snatch his boy up and run out, but he was afraid the kid would startle awake with a shout and give away their position. “Pal, you have to wake up now.”

 

“Hm, Daddy?” the five year old blinked awake, reassured by the familiar voice and sight of his father.

 

“Sh, sh,” Tony put his finger to his lips. Ethan’s eyed widened and his tiredness was forgotten at Tony’s behaviour. “Baby, we have to get out now; we have some unwanted visitors.” The adult was already pulling his son out of the bed and into his arms, knowing it would be a lot faster if he carried him.

 

Fear run through the child and he immediately latched on tightly to his father’s neck, letting himself be brought out the door. He was afraid, more so now that he could hear people downstairs, walking through their house and whispering unintelligible, and he felt his own breath speeding up.

 

“Sh, I got you,” His dad whispered, “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He knew that, of course he did. His daddy would protect him; he was Iron Man after all. Clutching tighter around Tony’s neck, Ethan laid his head down on the bigger man’s shoulder, as they inched his way to the stairs leading down to the front door.

 

 

Tony cursed himself to hell and back, that he had let this house stand alone for years. He had never planned to come back here and never updated the systems here, and more importantly, hadn’t come around to install JARVIS in the whole house. After some hesitations, Tony had made himself room in Howard’s old lab, and set up speakers and sensors and everything so he could work with his AI there, but that’s it. JARVIS had no access to the rest of the house and had like…86,8% no idea what was going on here, he probably thought Tony had fallen asleep in the kitchen –wouldn’t have been the first time- or went to check on Ethan.

 

Coming back here was an temporary arrangement, until he felt it safe enough to move back into the tower with his son. The fun thing was, while he had trepidations coming back here, Ethan had been ecstatic at the thought of staying in his daddy’s old house and sleeping in his kid bed. So Tony had let him, of course. He had no desire to settle down in his old room ever again after all.

 

 

Tony readjusted the grip on his son, running a comforting hand over the kids back and he was almost at the stairs, when he back pedalled quickly. He could hear two man at the end of the staircase. Talking quietly to each other. Ethan whimpered into his shoulder, no doubt hearing them himself, and Tony’s heart ached at his son’s distress.

 

The armour-less Iron Man tightened his hold on the boy and turned back around. Front door was out of question and the back door he didn’t even dare to try anymore without knowing how many people were down there. That leaves one option: the panic room.

 

 

It was limited to older technology, but Tony knew for a fact that the door would not open without the code and there was some food, something to drink and a telephone. He knew because it was the first thing he’d shown his son in this house, the first code he’d let him learn here and the first room Tony had checked and restocked; because you could never know. He might not have given the room a second thought if he had been alone here, hell, if he had been by himself he would have probably stayed at the tower, no matter what state it was in; but with his child he could never be too careful.

 

Pressing his kid tightly to him, the billionaire hurried down the hallway, half running to the other end of the house.

 

“Not another step, Mr Stark.” A dark voice and the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked had him stop in his tracks. Ethan whimpered and curled tighter against Tony. He felt the muzzle of a gun press against the back of his head and Tony made a quick decision he hoped he wouldn’t regret later.

 

He ducked neatly down under the gun, and in one swift move let his kid down on the floor with more momentum that he wanted and turned to ram his elbow against the arm holding the gun. With a heavy heart he ignored the cry of surprise from his son and concentrated on the pained one from the gun man. Sadly, he didn’t let go of the weapon, so Tony latched on before he could aim again, starting a fight for the control of the gun.

 

Grunts erupted from both of them, but seeing that Tony wouldn’t win like that he let go with his right hand and delivered a mean hook he had learned from happy. The intruder reeled back a bit, but unfortunately his finger hit the trigger as well, getting a shot out before Tony could grab the weapon and ram it against the man’s temple.

 

The housebreaker fell like a stone, unconscious instantly, and Tony breathed heavily, slumping against the wall himself.

 

“Fuck.” He hissed. The single bullet that was shot had buried itself in his right leg, just above the knee and fuck, if that didn’t hurt like a sonofbitch. He squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden pain and panted.

 

“Daddy?”

 

Fuck, yea, ok. No time for this. He steadied himself with a hand against the wall and looked at his son, who was still sitting where he left him, with tears running down his cheeks.

 

“Ethan, baby, you have to go to the panic room now.” He said as quick as he could. The gun may have had a silencer, but they had been still loud enough to be heard. “You know where it is, you know how it works. Run fast.”

 

Tony would only slow Ethan down now, he would make sure no one stopped his kid before he reached safety and he’d give them hell if they tried. Oh, he will give them hell anyway.

 

“But daddy,” the child sniffed, “you are bleeding. And you have to come too.” Ethan was now on his feet, tugging on Tony’s arm. “Come on.”

 

“No, I’ll come later and get you, I’ll have to take care of them first. You have to go now, Ethan. And stay there until I come.” He used his voice that broke no argument, because they really couldn’t afford to argue right now. “Go.”

 

“But-“

 

“No but. Please, you have to do this for me now. I’ll come get you when this is over.” He bend down to press his lips to Ethan’s forehead and then gently pushed the reluctant child in the other direction.

 

“You promise you’ll come?” the boy stopped after a hesitant step, looking with wet, pleading eyes at his father.

 

“I promise. Now go.”

 

He still stayed a second.

 

“Charlie?” a strangers voice came from the second stairwell they had already passed, and Tony knew the next one would be up in a moment.

 

“Go!” he hissed quietly.

 

Tony sighed in relief when his boy nodded and with one last heartbreaking look, run in the direction of the panic room.

 

Finally he gritted his teeth and pushed himself away from the wall. Steps came up the stairs as soon as he was upright, and without even thinking about it, he had the gun he had acquired from the man on the floor cocked and aimed. As soon as he saw the tip of a nose he opened fire, forcing the new comer back down. He heard curses and smiled when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone falling down the stairs.

 

Satisfied for now, he hobbled further down the corridor. Instead of turning left, like his son had, he chose the right way at the end, he would only open that door when it was safe for his son to come out.

A weight lifted from his shoulders when he heard a heavy door closing and clicking shut from Ethan’s direction; his son was safe. 

 

For now his goal was Jarvis old room. The butler had his own staircase that was leading to the kitchen. Both ends were ‘hidden’ by doors, so he hoped he could get down unseen. He had to get to his suit. Or at least his cell to call the cavalry. He knew for a fact, for example, that a certain super soldier was back from his road trip since three days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed


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